Sal's wisdom is much older than his age and it seems like trouble follows him no matter what he does. But for the jangling repetitions of “knew” and “town”, those sentences would sound quite pleasant. But for the questions of exactly what mood mud tends to be in, and what it would mean for mothers to “bloom identical” to roses, it would be quite evocative. Like so much of the book, it feels a little too strained and not quite sharp enough. Tiffany McDaniel surprised me with her debut novel and after reading only one book written by her, I already know I want to read everythig she'll write in the future.

To say that this book has a unique premise is an understatement. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read, and I simply loved every second I spent reading The Summer That Melted Everything. Because of him and the anger she held onto, her features reached home to their bones, causing cave and shadow.” This is not a happy book, it will probably leave you under an impression and you won't be able to stop thinking about it. Fielding Bliss has never forgotten the summer of 1984: the year a heat wave scorched Breathed, Ohio. The year he became friends with the devil.

Tiffany McDaniel

McDaniel] is capable of stirring powerful emotions...an ambitious novel that will invite thought and surely spark discussion." -- Booklist

She had that tendency to be overaffectionate. It was almost like a nervous tic. It was the staying in the house that did it. She thought if she loved you enough, you’d never want to leave her, and then the house wouldn’t seem so lonely as it could be to her at times, when it was just her and the vacuum.” Some cases affected him more than others, like the one with the little girl who was beaten to death by her addict parents. He’d stare at those bloody crime photos over and over again, long after he put the parents away. Then one day he said he was going out. He stood there, watching me scratch my chin through my beard. I stopped because he began to look worried I may have fleas.” Just… everything was told in such an astonishingly vivid way. Seriously, the amount of quotes I’ve written down from the book into my own notes is a tad excessive. You can imagine anything you want in the dark. You can imagine your father loves you, you can imagine your mother is not disappointed, you can imagine that you are...significant. That you mean somethin' to someone. That's all I ever wanted, Fielding. To matter. That is all I've ever wanted.”In the summer of 1984, evil came to asleepy Ohio town. It came with a brutal heat wave and turned neighbor against neighbor, destroying one family who dared to love a stranger unconditionally. Tiffany McDaniel’s novel, THE SUMMER THAT MELTED EVERYTHING, is an ambitious and audacious debut. Lyrical and strange with a simmering then erupting danger, it follows the Bliss family as they and all the inhabitants of the town of Breathed lose their innocence and fall from grace. On the Savage Side is gorgeously written. If you are looking for humor or hope then this is not the book for you. It’s gritty and dark and we feel for these lost souls. This must have been a difficult book to write. But it really had to be written.” Note: I got this book for free via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review. Thank you Tiffany McDaniel and St. Martin's Press.

I am sorry if I already used the word perfection too many times at the very beginning of my review, but the truth is, I am lost for other words. This book, to me, was pure perfection. Pain is our most intimate encounter. It lives on the very inside of us, touching everything that makes us. It claims your bones, it masters your muscles, it reels in your strength, and you never see it again. The artistry of pain is its content. The horror of it is the same.” I will say that 1984 was a year that understood how to make history. Apple launched its Macintosh computer for the masses, two astronauts walked the stars like gods, and singer Marvin Gaye, who sang about how sweet it was to be loved, was shot through the heart and killed by his father. In this atmospheric Appalachian Gothic, a poet and novelist draws on a string of actual unsolved murders in her native Ohio to capture what goes horribly wrong when women don’t fit a customary victim profile... McDaniel artfully evokes each facet of their common humanity, the sinuous landscape, and defiant community in the face of evil." The Summer that Melted Everythingis inventive and provocative…a meaty and relentlessly good story.” ―Bookreporter.com

I think what the people of Breathed forgot about was that the concept of the Devil is manifested in all of us. You might not see him when you look in the mirror dead on, but turn your head to the side and look out of the corner of your eye, and you might catch a glimpse of him. He is reflected in your fingernails when the light is just right. Sometimes, if you close your eyes down to slits, you can see him in the swirls of your pancake. He stares at us from the darkness, from the bowel of a tree, or through the eyes of an owl. You can’t kill him. You can’t kill the light that has fallen to darkness. Tiffany McDaniel's brilliant literary debut is a feast for the mind. Her gifted language and stunning story craft shine a bright light on human nature as she examines the face of good and evil. I enjoyed every single word." --Susan Crandall, bestselling author of Whistling Past the Graveyard